Olu Amoda (born 1959) is a Nigerian sculptor, muralist, furniture designer, and multimedia artist best known for using relics of discarded consumer such as rusty nails, metal plates, bolts, pipes, spoons and rods to create sculptural figures, flora and animals to highlight Nigerians socio-political and cultural issues from sex, politics, race and conflict to economic distribution. He is the founder of Riverside Art and Design Studios in

Lagos Lagos (Nigerian English: ; ) is the largest city in Nigeria and the List of cities in Africa by population, second most populous city in Africa, with a population of 15.4 million as of 2015 within the city proper. Lagos was the national ca ...

, Nigeria.

Early life and education

Amoda was born in

Warri The city of Warri is an oil hub within South-South Nigeria and houses an annex of the Delta State Government House. Warri City is one of the major hubs of the petroleum industry in Nigeria. Warri and her twin city, Uvwie are the commercial c ...

in the

Niger Delta The Niger Delta is the delta of the Niger River sitting directly on the Gulf of Guinea on the Atlantic Ocean in Nigeria. It is located within nine coastal southern Nigerian states, which include: all six states from the South South geopolitical ...

, Nigeria, in 1959 to a goldsmith father. He studied sculpture in

Auchi Polytechnic Auchi Polytechnic is a Federal Polytechnic in Auchi, Edo State, Nigeria. It is one of the first four Polytechnics established in Nigeria. It has over 10,000 students enrolled in business, technology, environmental and arts courses. Histo ...

Auchi Auchi is a city in Edo State, Nigeria. Auchi Sacred Kingdom (ASK), which is part of Etsako West Local Government Area of Edo State, serves as the Local Government headquarters. Other towns in the Etsako West local government area include: Uz ...

, Nigeria, in 1983, and in 2009, he earned a master's degree in Fine Arts from

Georgia Southern University Georgia Southern University (GS or Georgia Southern) is a public research university in the U.S. state of Georgia. The flagship campus is in Statesboro, and other locations include the Armstrong Campus in Savannah and the Liberty Campus in Hine ...

in Georgia, USA.

Career

Amoda is considered one of Nigeria's leading contemporary artists. In January 2020, he was announced the artistic director of ''Now Sculpture'' 2020 exhibition, by the Sculptors Association of Nigeria, for the 2020 National conference organised by ScAN. Due to his artistic fluidity, Amoda was among the contributors at historic Zaria Art Society (Zaria Rebels) in November 2019, at Victoria Island, Lagos. In 2000, he worked as an artist-in-residence in

Villa Arson The Villa Arson, also referred to as the École Nationale Supérieure d'Arts à la Villa Arson (National School of Fine Arts at the Villa Arson), is a French art museum, elite school and research institution for contemporary art, located in Nice ...

Nice, France Nice ( , ; Niçard dialect, Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department in France. The Nice urban unit, agg ...

, and at the Bag Factory in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

, South Africa, in 2003. He has also worked at the

Appalachian State University Appalachian State University (; Appalachian, App State, App, or ASU) is a public university in Boone, North Carolina. It was founded as a teachers college in 1899 by brothers B. B. and D. D. Dougherty and the latter's wife, Lillie Shull Dough ...

, in Boone and at the New York Design Museum, in 2006 and 2010 respectively. He has participated in many exhibitions, including at the

Newark Museum The Newark Museum of Art (formerly known as the Newark Museum), in Newark, Essex County, New Jersey, United States, is the state's largest museum. It holds major collections of American art, decorative arts, contemporary art, and arts of Asia, Af ...

in New Jersey, USA, Museum of Art & Design, USA; Skoto Gallery, New York;

, USA; Villa Arson in Nice, France, and the Bag Factory in Johannesburg,The

World Intellectual Property Organization The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO; french: link=no, Organisation mondiale de la propriété intellectuelle (OMPI)) is one of the list of specialized agencies of the United Nations, 15 specialized agencies of the United Nation ...

(WIPO) Headquarters, Switzerland; the Didi Museum, Nigeria; the 6th Biennale de L'Art African Contemporain, Senegal; the

, Fondation Blachère and the

Sindika Dokolo Foundation The Sindika Dokolo Foundation is a cultural foundation headquartered in Luanda, Angola. It is supported by businessman Sindika Dokolo, the organization's president, and managed by its vice president, Fernando Alvim. Simon Njami the organization's ...

, the

Victoria & Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

, UK, among other places. Amoda's work was featured in ''Lend Me Your Dream'', a pan-African exhibition organized by the Foundation for the Development of Contemporary African Culture. in 2017, he established the Riverside Art and Design Studios in Yaba, Lagos. and started his teaching career in 1987, where he taught Sculpture and Drawing at the School of Art, Design and Printing at

Yaba College of Technology Yaba College of Technology, popularly known as YABATECH, was founded in 1947, and is Nigeria's first higher educational institution. It is located in Yaba, Lagos. It has a student enrollment of over 16,000. Overview Yaba College of Technology ...

in Lagos since.

Selected works

* Index Season ii, June 2017 at Eko Hotels & Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos.

Awards

Amoda has received numerous prestigious awards including: * The Delta State Honor For The Most Innovative Sculptor of The Year. * In 2014 his work, ''Sunflower'', earned him the Grand Prix Léopold Sédar Senghor prize at Dak’Art, the 11th Biennial of the Contemporary African Art in Dakar, Senegal. An art which explores the connection between mass industry and the organic.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Amoda, Olu Living people 1959 births 21st-century Nigerian artists Nigerian sculptors People from Lagos State People from Warri